Insafe Weekly Update

On the eve of Safer Internet Day (SID) 2024, we take this opportunity to thank you for your support in the build-up to the campaign and wish you all a fantastic day tomorrow.

The EC has informed us that Commissioner Breton has recorded a Safer Internet Day video message (in EN) with subtitled versions in all EU languages - keep an eye on his X (formerly Twitter) profile tomorrow to see it.

Additionally, as of tomorrow, the user-friendly booklet of the Digital Services Act provisions for the protection of minors will be available to download from the website of the Publications Office of the European Union in all EU languages.  

Look out for some more resource launches tomorrow including the BIK Annual Review 2023 and a corresponding spotlight on last year's youth activities, the launch of the new #AdWiseOnline awareness-raising campaign and the corresponding launch of a new research report on (manipulative) online marketing practices targeting children and young people, along with an article on the EU's virtual worlds strategy including the recent mapping of network resources. Check the BIK platform and our social media profiles on Facebook, X and LinkedIn for more information throughout the day.

We’ll be busy watching events unfold across the globe and will be active across social media throughout the day tomorrow. A reminder to use the #SID2024 and #SaferInternetDay hashtags on Twitter, and please tag @SafeInternetDay so that we can further share your posts.

Remember also, there's still time to use the various assets in the Join SID section of the SID website, while the latest dissemination plan includes some ready-made posts for you to make some noise from your own social media account, along with a zip file of visual assets. If you need to make any further changes to your SID profile page - or add new resources launched on the day, submit them here.

Equally, please start thinking about the completion of your SIC’s SID reporting template also (including a blog article on SID successes), which is available to download from the BIK community (login first). The deadline for returning the completed reporting template to the SID Helpdesk is COB on Tuesday, 5 March 2024 (or sooner if possible).

Finally, a reminder that as soon as tomorrow ends, we’ll be promoting a Save the Date for the next edition of Safer Internet Day, taking place on Tuesday, 11 February 2025 (download the logo from the BIK community; login first). Please bear in mind there will be some changes for the 2025 campaign with a refreshed SID mascot in development, and a new SID website launching later in the year. We'll also be changing the narrative a little - while the second Tuesday in February will continue to be a global day of focus, we'll be highlighting the fact that SID stakeholders will mark the celebration across the whole month. Stay tuned to future Insafe Weekly Updates for updates on the plans.

In case of questions on any aspect of the Safer Internet Day campaign, please contact saferinternetday@betterinternetforkids.eu.

DG EAC, the European Commission department responsible for EU policy on education, youth, sport and culture, is organising a webinar on the topic of disinformation. It will take place on Tuesday, 6 February 2024 from 15:00 to 16:00 CET, contributing to Safer Internet Day 2024 celebrations across the globe.

This webinar is open to anyone interested in the topic, including teachers, educators, educational staff, academia, civil society, policymakers and young people. It will feature insights from digital literacy experts, teachers, researchers, and young people and will explore effective and scalable practices, current trends in disinformation, and its impact on young people. It will also spotlight the first-hand experiences of a teacher who has used the Guidelines for teachers and educators on tackling disinformation and promoting digital literacy published as part of the Commission’s Digital Education Action Plan.

Moderated by Francesca Maltauro, Deputy Head of Unit ‘Digital Education’, DG EAC, European Commission, the session will feature the following speakers:

• Sally Reynolds - Chief Operating Officer, Media and Learning Association
• Aki Saariaho - Teacher, Otaniemi Upper Secondary School, Finland
• Maria Giovanna Sessa - Research Manager, EU DisinfoLab
• Andrew Victory - Board Member, Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU)

More information, including the link to register is available here: Webinar: Tackling disinformation through education and training - empowered in the digital age | European Education Area (europa.eu).

Registrations will remain open up until the event itself.

Please feel free to disseminate this event through your own networks and contacts.

In a rapidly evolving digital media landscape, the European Commission continues to invest in innovative solutions to enhance media literacy skills of all European citizens, support effective cross-border cooperation, and limit the detrimental impact of disinformation. A call for proposals has been launched under the cross-sectoral strand of the Creative Europe Programme.

Grants will encourage knowledge-sharing and exchanges on media literacy policies and practices to enable the development of innovative cross-border media literacy initiatives and communities across countries, taking into account current user behaviour among various age groups.

The call is open to consortia composed of at least three entities from a minimum of three different countries participating in the Creative Europe Programme. Such consortia may include:

• profit and non-profit organisations (private or public).
• public authorities (national, regional, local).
• international organisations.
• universities and educational institutions.
• media organisations.
• research and technology institutions.
• technology providers.

Find more details on the call for proposals on the European Commission website. The call closes on Thursday, 7 March 2024.

The next Insafe/INHOPE joint training meeting will take place on Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18 April 2024 in Warsaw, Poland. The meeting will start at 13:00 on Wednesday 17 April and will finish at 17:00 on Thursday 18 April. There will be some optional activities taking place on the morning of Wednesday – a Media Literacy in the Classroom session and also a visit to the Polish helpline. The Insafe Steering Committee meeting will take place on Friday morning (19 April).

The meeting will be held at the AIRPORT HOTEL OKĘCIE. A special room rate is available; access this by going to the hotel website (https://airporthotel.pl/en/), click book a room, then in the upper right corner click enter code. The code to book is EUN. 

Registration is now open for the training meeting and includes information on the draft agenda, as well as the networking dinner and other side events; please register as soon as possible. For any questions or further information on any aspect of the training meeting, please contact Karl. 

Emil, a colleague from the Danish helpline will lead the discussion and share information, particularly about the incel communities online in an online meeting on Monday, 12 February 2024 at 11:00 CET; use this link to join the meeting. For further information, please contact Karl.

Several colleagues from helplines and hotlines have already been approached by the organisation expected to become the Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) in their country and asked to consider applying to become a trusted flagger under the auspices of the Digital Services Act (DSA). This meeting, taking place online on Wednesday, 14 February 2024 at 14:00 CET, will be an opportunity to share experiences about the local negotiations that are taking place and to discuss good practice, financial implications, workload etc. Use this link to join the meeting; for further information, please contact Karl.

Meta will hold an online policy briefing at 16:00 CET on Wednesday, 14 February 2024. The briefing will be led by Anne Hobson (from the Reality Labs policy team) and will provide an opportunity to hear about the current safety features for children and young people within Quest and Horizon Worlds. Please let Karl know if you would like to attend. Many thanks to those helplines who have already expressed their interest – hopefully you should have received an invitation already; let Karl know if you haven’t. 

There will be an online meeting with colleagues from Video Games Europe (VGE, formerly the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE)) and some of its members on the morning of Thursday, 15 February 2024 (exact time and joining information to be confirmed). The meeting will be an opportunity to hear more about virtual worlds and AI voice moderation; for further information in the meantime, please contact Karl.

INHOPE is kicking off the 2024 Expert Insights Webinar series with a unique insight into youth empowerment on online platforms. Join online on Thursday, 15 February 2024 at 14:00 CET for a deep dive into the safety measures ZEPETO develops and implements in their metaverse to keep their users safe, informed, and empowered. 
  
What tools do they develop and use to detect harm? What features do they utilise to inform and empower their users? How do they educate their community about online safety? Speaker Elyse Lee, Head of Global Policy and Engagement at ZEPETO, provides a unique insight into what ZEPETO has done to empower the young people who navigate their metaverse. 

Further information and registration are available from the INHOPE website. 

The next meeting of the helpline early warning group will take place on Wednesday, 6 March 2024 at 14:00 CET. Use this link to join the meeting; for further information, please contact Karl.

Many thanks to those who attended the recent meeting to hear more about the EDUboxes on politics and propaganda. You can access a report from the meeting and the recording from the BIK community (login first). For further information, please contact Karl.

The EU policy roundtable, hosted by the menABLE project, will bring together a diverse group of public and private stakeholders, including policymakers, representatives from civil society, academia, industries, education and young people to discuss priorities in tackling gender-based violence (GBV) online. The primary objective of the roundtable is to present and discuss the research findings of the menABLE Research Report – an empirical study on understanding and responding to gender-based violence online; and the Educational Toolbox concept - a plug-and-play game to prevent and combat gender-based violence online.

The roundtable will take place on Tuesday, 20 February 2024 in Brussels and online. For more information about the event, agenda, speakers’ bios and registration, please visit the menABLE website. 

The European Digital and Media Literacy Conference is taking place from Tuesday, 27 February 2024 to Friday, 1 March 2024 in Brussels. It puts the many faces of digital and media literacy in the European spotlight during the Belgian EU presidency. The conference is focused on showcasing and exchanging initiatives, tools, projects and practices that can be integrated into your own work or policy. Meet and connect with professionals from around the EU and from all policy levels. Let’s strengthen European cooperation and the future of Digital and Media Literacy! Attending the conference is free, but you need to apply to ensure a good European spread of participants. SIC representatives are warmly invited! 

More information is available from www.medialiteracymatters.eu. In case of questions, please contact Andy Demeulenaere (Coordinator at Mediawijs).

• How to identify trustworthy information? (SIC FI)
• Game-based learning to prevent cyberbullying (SIC FI)
• New digital academy for parents (SIC PT)
• CIS Digital Camp teaches students cybersecurity skills (SIC PT)

Remember to submit your public portal blog articles to the BIK content mailbox; they count towards your SIC’s lump sum mechanism (LSM) criteria.

Awareness community of practice

• EDUbox - report from online meeting - January 2024

We hope that you are enjoying exploring the BIK platform. Please note, a BIK user guide is available to download from the BIK community (login first). In case of questions or issues when using any aspect of the BIK platform, please contact us using the contact link in the top right navigation area or email support@betterinternetforkids.eu.

IMPORTANT – if you have new starters who need to register for the platform, please direct them to www.betterinternetforkids.eu/register, in parallel with sending an email to support@betterinternetforkids.eu so that we can verify them and provide further instructions.

• Child protection concepts (SIC AT) 

• Better Internet for Kids (BIK) public portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu; #BIK; #BIKbulletin
• New BIK strategy (BIK+) on BIK portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/newbikstrategy; #BIKplus
• Safer Internet Forum (SIF) on BIK portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/sif;#SIF2023; #SIF2024, #SaferInternetForum
• BIK Policy Map on BIK portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/bikmap; #BIKPolicyMap
• Safer Internet Day (SID) minisite:
  www.saferinternetday.org; #SID2024; #SaferInternetDay
• Positive Online Content (POCC) minisite:
  www.positiveonlinecontentforkids.eu; #positivecontent; #PositiveOnlineContent; #POCC
• BIK Youth minisite:
  www.bikyouth.eu; #BIKyouth; #Pledge2Youth
• Child and youth consumer protection campaign (launching on Safer Internet Day 2024):
  #AdWiseOnline
• Project Facebook profiles:
  Insafe, Safer Internet Day, Insafe network closed Facebook group, INHOPE
• Project X (formerly Twitter) profiles:
  @insafenetwork; @safeinternetday; @BIK_youth; @inhope_pr
• Project LinkedIn profile:
  Better Internet for Kids